North central Ohio is getting to the point in the season now where frost, if it hasn't occurred already where you are, is more or less inevitable.

Some rural locations south of Mansfield received their first frost back in late September. Most of the rest will likely get there Sunday morning. But frankly, anything that's still growing outside at this point is living on borrowed time. I have some begonias in a box on my shed that are still blooming and in fact look as great as they did when I bought them on Mother's Day. But the end is near.

Otherwise, it should be a truly nice weekend, at least in and around Richland County. Although Friday will continue cloudy for the duration, sunshine should be prevalent on Saturday and Sunday. Look for high temperatures around 60 degrees the next three days, maybe a degree or two cooler on Saturday.

Area farmers have been busy late this week getting their row crops in, and harvesting activity should be really ramped up this weekend, especially since significant rain is expected for early next week.

While a tropical system from the Pacific basin named Simon is responsible for today's clouds, and is dumping lots of rain along the Ohio River, all that precipitation should remain well to our south. By Monday and especially Tuesday, however, a strong cold front will make it up here, with copious precipitation likely.

While our temperatures will be warm to start next week, with highs in the low 70s for Monday, the passage of that frontal boundary will shunt our temps back into the 50s for highs after that.

In other news, an organization dedicated to debunking the science of climate change called the Heartland Institute is out this week with a press release claiming that the Earth's mean surface temperature has not risen for the past 18 years, citing satellite data used by NASA and NOAA.

Actually, NASA and NOAA get their climate data from different sources, but never mind. The Earth's mean surface temperature in fact HAS risen during every one of the past 18 years. The rate of that warming has slowed since about 2000, in a pause that is acknowledged by every scientific organization on the planet. And the reason for the pause is a complete mystery. Many climatologists have hypothesized that the ocean depths are storing the heat, but recent data suggests that's not the case.

There are more questions than answers when it comes to climate change, but the numbers speak for themselves. When partisan players, whether it's Al Gore on one side of the issue or irresponsible groups like the Heartland Institute on the other, make stuff up to support their fictions they're taking our ignorance for granted.

Below are the weather statistics for Thursday, Oct. 9 at my location 4 miles north-northwest of Fredericktown, Ohio:

Conditions – Mostly cloudy and cooler

High temperature – 58; low temperature – 30; (last year, 69 and 37)

Precipitation – none

High barometer – 30.13 inches; low barometer – 30.04 inches

Peak wind gust – 10 mph, south

High dew point – 46

Heating degree days – 21

Today's normal high and low temperatures (Mansfield) – 64 and 44

Today's record high and low temperatures (Mansfield) – 85 in 2010, 22 in 1956

Today's sunrise/sunset times – 7:36 a.m./6:57 p.m.

Moon phase – waning gibbous, 94 percent visible

U.S. extreme temperatures – 100 in Death Valley, Calif.; 17 at Brimson, Minn.